Ban Mus­lim sym­bols, says right­ist

SALZBURG: The head of Aus­tria’s far-right Free­dom Party has called for a to­tal ban on “fascis­tic Is­lam”.

Heinz Chris­tian Stra­che told an au­di­ence in Salzburg he wanted to see a ban on Mus­lim sym­bols, some­thing like the Aus­trian law that bans Nazi sym­bols. And he warned that Is­lam posed an ex­is­ten­tial threat to Europe. “Oth­er­wise we Aus­tri­ans, we Euro­peans, will come to an abrupt end.”

The Free­dom Party is staunchly anti-im­mi­grant. Stache said that “we need zero and mi­nus im­mi­gra­tion”. The coun­try has re­ceived 130 000 claims for asy­lum since the sum­mer of 2015. Most are former res­i­dents of Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.

There are about 600 000 Mus­lims in Aus­tria, and they’re fac­ing a grow­ing cho­rus of de­trac­tors. Re­cently, an Aus­trian car­di­nal (and a top can­di­date for pope in pre­vi­ous con­claves) asked: “Will there be an Is­lamic con­quest of Europe? Many Mus­lims want that and say: Europe is at the end.” In De­cem­ber, an Aus­trian trade union sug­gested Mus­lims should be de­nied Christ­mas bonuses be­cause “they are against all Chris­tian tra­di­tions”. – Wash­ing­ton Post